Description or summary of the book: Did you know that if John Wayne was playing poker and a card was turned face up by accident, he made the person responsible stand up and circle the table three times? That Catherine the Great was so terrified of people finding out she had dandruff that she imprisoned her hairdresser in an iron cage? That Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, invented the coathanger? That Elizabeth I passed a law taxing men with beards? That Arthur Conan Doyle believed he would be resurrected 10 days after his death at the Albert Hall and 10,000 people turn up to witness the event. It's all here and more. Over 700 curious facts and acts organized in thematic chapters.